(Link to video)
100% TAS for the arcade release of Shinobi in 11:42.

Game objectives

  • Emulator used: FBA-RR v007 (from tasvideos.org)
  • ROM: shinobi.zip (system 16A, set 6, unprotected)
  • fastest-possible, 100%

Comments

A 100% (ie: kill everyone) run of the arcade release of Shinobi. A game description can be found with the previous any% run of the same game.
An enemy is considered killed when the score clock increments (if they end up being killed off screen) or if they fall into a hole. The main idea is that an enemy is not considered killed if they simply move too far off screen and de-spawn.
There are points during the run where the player pauses or moves backwards. Although this may appear to be sub-optimal, this is so: 1) enemies don't de-spawn by going too far off screen 2) the spawning of the enemies is more favorable 3) enemies are killed on screen (otherwise, a large portion of the kills would be off screen)
In the bonus games, there are several missed/additional shurikens. It would've been preferable to kill each enemy with a single shuriken but there's some annoying behavior (bug/glitch?) where that doesn't seem possible with some of the enemies. At first, it appeared that some enemies simply took more hits than others. However, it turns out that those enemies can actually be killed with a single shuriken... provided that another shuriken is thrown afterwards (even if the additional shuriken misses). For example, there's a few instances were 5 shurikens are thrown at a single enemy but only one of them hits. If only the one kill-shot shuriken had been thrown (from the same position on the same frame), the shuriken would have missed. Throwing a second shuriken afterwards will get the first one to hit. Throwing a bunch more was just for the hell of it.
In the stage 3 boss fight, the spinning statues probably should've all been destroyed as well considering this is a 100% run. That was actually done for this run at one point but there didn't appear to be anything to it and it was kinda boring (just a lot of jumping and shooting). It seemed to take away from the flow/momentum of the run so that boss fight was re-run and the statues were skipped.

Samsara: Judging.
Samsara: File replaced with a trimmed version.
Samsara: I'm accepting this, since it's a lot tighter than your any% submission and the audience liked it a lot, though I still disagree with the "100%" category. Since enemies can be respawned by moving far enough back and coming forward again, it doesn't exactly "kill every enemy", though it does kill every unique enemy due to the fact that spawns are preset.
Though, with no one else bothering to put forth serious category names, let alone any at all, I'm just going to leave the name as "100%". It can still be changed at any time if someone happens to actually come up with something legitimate.
feos: Pub.

TASVideoAgent
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This topic is for the purpose of discussing #5190: V's Arcade Shinobi "100%" in 11:41.42
mklip2001
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Posts: 2224
Location: Georgia, USA
Good job! I think this choice of goal makes sense, as a good speed-entertainment tradeoff. The most impressive parts are when you shoot a few shots at once before the enemies appear on screen. This also seems like a better run from a technical standpoint than your first submission. I'm a little concerned, though, about some of the missed shots you do. I'm fine with them in the boss fights as a way of creating some distraction (like the Lobster fight), but I think it looks sort of bad in the bonus games. Do you need to miss shots to manipulate the enemies in the bonus games?
Used to be a frequent submissions commenter. My new computer has had some issues running emulators, so I've been here more sporadically. Still haven't gotten around to actually TASing yet... I was going to improve Kid Dracula for GB. It seems I was beaten to it, though, with a recent awesome run by Hetfield90 and StarvinStruthers. (http://tasvideos.org/2928M.html.) Thanks to goofydylan8 for running Gargoyle's Quest 2 because I mentioned the game! (http://tasvideos.org/2001M.html) Thanks to feos and MESHUGGAH for taking up runs of Duck Tales 2 because of my old signature! Thanks also to Samsara for finishing a Treasure Master run. From the submission comments:
Shoutouts and thanks to mklip2001 for arguably being the nicest and most supportive person on the forums.
V
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Posts: 6
mklip2001 wrote:
Good job! I think this choice of goal makes sense, as a good speed-entertainment tradeoff. The most impressive parts are when you shoot a few shots at once before the enemies appear on screen. This also seems like a better run from a technical standpoint than your first submission.
Thanks Mklip. I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's a lot more work than I thought.
mklip2001 wrote:
I'm a little concerned, though, about some of the missed shots you do. I'm fine with them in the boss fights as a way of creating some distraction (like the Lobster fight), but I think it looks sort of bad in the bonus games. Do you need to miss shots to manipulate the enemies in the bonus games?
Thanks for bringing up the missed shots in the bonus games. I would definitely have preferred to kill each enemy with a single shuriken but there's some annoying behavior (bug/glitch?) where that doesn't seem possible with some of the enemies. At first, I thought it was simply that some enemies took more hits than others. However, I later realized that those enemies can actually be killed with a single shuriken... provided that you shoot off another one afterwards (even if the additional shuriken misses). For example, there's a few instances were I shoot off 5 shurikens at a single enemy but only one of them hits. Had I only shot off the one kill-shot shuriken (from the same position on the same frame), the shuriken would have missed. Firing off a second shuriken afterwards will get that first shot to hit. Shooting off a bunch more was just for the hell of it. I'll try to update the main description with this explanation.
Samsara
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The run definitely does look a lot better on the technical side this time around. I was expecting a similar opening to the any% run from the way you described it, but it looks like you had come across most of my improvements on your own. Great work! One thing I'm concerned about, though, is the enemy spawning. Can a game with respawning enemies truly have a 100% kills run? The interesting thing is that enemies seem to only respawn when the screen is scrolled far enough away from their spawning positions, and they spawn in the exact same places, so in a way every unique enemy ends up being killed over the course of the run. But it does seem weird to classify it as 100% kills when you can bring enemies back at will. I may have to delay judgement on this and see if it gets more feedback. If it gets more attention and positive feedback then we can still accept it under a different category name, but as it stands right now it's looking like a bad goal choice. EDIT: Still 100% Yes votes, and it's gained 3 of them since I posted, so I think we're actually on track to be able to Moon this... I'm just having some trouble thinking about a proper category name. 100% still feels weird, and something like "all unique kills" just sounds arbitrary and doesn't roll off the tongue very well. Anyone have suggestions for a good name?
TASvideos Admin and acting Senior Judge 💙 | Cohost
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This one looks interesting.I knew an FC game like this one and have watched a movie with so many similarity.I don't know whether these two game are the same.But I think this one is enough to be a moon run. So funny to watch a movie about arcade game. Edit:after watching it.A yes vote.Looking forward to a run about another ninja game.Maybe I will continue my run on Charlie Ninja.
Do the work.
Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
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This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [3202] Arcade Shinobi "maximum kills" by V in 11:41.42